[whatwg] about rich internat applications

[Didier PH Martin]

Hi Ian,


> Indeed. The CSS and SVG working groups in the W3C are working on XBL2,
> which is a step on from Microsoft's HTCs.

Thanks I am examining it to understand its opportunities and limitations.
Sounds like most of the HTC features and more are included in the spec.

> 
> 
> > e) Could lead to a business model if source code access can be
> > controlled. A new market of external widget makers can be created if
> > their asset can be protected. We saw such market happening with
> > powerbuilder, visual basicm etc.
> 
> Personally I am opposed to technologies that make it harder to copy,
> tweak, or otherwise play with the source of applications. XBL, like SVG
> and CSS, will be a (theoretically) human-readable format.
>

Yes the open source mantra. Can open source components be the source of a
sound business model? (I mean here something that help people pay their rent
and live with). What is more important, get access to lousy code or get
access to a components and a vendor having interests to keep us as
customers? Without any religious positions I think its better that we have
components available from a marketplace and some competition among the
vendors. If the code can behave in a sandbox with good security checks I
have no problems to not having access to the source code as long as I can
complete a project on time and with reasonable costs. The best it to allow
some choices: for philanthropic buddies, allowing them to expose the source
code and for others allowing them to hide it.

Cheers
Didier PH Martin